The previous aide wiped his forehead as he entered his pleas in courtroom.
Conor McGrath, 29, beforehand labored for MP Kevin Bonavia (Picture: Stevenage Borough Council/LDRS)
A former aide to the Labour MP for Stevenage has pleaded responsible to possessing greater than 500 indecent photos of youngsters. Conor McGrath, 29, labored for MP Kevin Bonavia and served as a borough councillor in Stevenage between 2023 and 2025.
He pleaded responsible to 3 counts of constructing indecent photos of youngsters at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court docket. The cost states McGrath made 77 class A photos, 109 class B photos and 329 class C photos and movies between June 2024 and March 2025. The 29-year-old spoke to substantiate his private particulars and to plead responsible to the fees on Wednesday, March 25.
He wore a darkish swimsuit, white shirt and crimson tie within the dock, and wiped his forehead as he entered his pleas.
The courtroom heard police arrested McGrath at his house deal with on March 25, 2024, on an unrelated matter and seized a number of units, together with his iPhone and iPad.
Prosecutor Menekse Sahan mentioned his pins and passwords have been requested however he failed to supply them initially.
Whereas he was launched underneath investigation, Hertfordshire Police acquired a referral from the Metropolitan Police over a report that he had made a reference to a colleague that the police could discover indecent photos on his units.
His electronics have been seized as soon as once more and police discovered indecent photos on them, the courtroom heard.
It’s understood Mr Bonavia took motion to make sure police have been knowledgeable as quickly as he turned conscious of the allegations towards McGrath.
Mr Bonavia and McGrath haven’t had any contact since, it’s also understood.
Angela Horne, for McGrath, instructed the courtroom: “Clearly there may be mitigation to be put and that would come with that the defendant has suffered trauma in his childhood and has a fragile psychological well being on account of that and these costs and the proceedings which have modified his life.”
District Choose Alan Thorn instructed the defendant the issues fell outdoors his sentencing powers within the Magistrates courtroom and the matter can be despatched to Crown courtroom.
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McGrath was freed on bail with circumstances together with to stay at his house deal with in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, and to not have any unsupervised contact with anybody underneath the age of 18.
A pre-sentence report was ordered and he can be sentenced at St Alban’s Crown Court docket on April 17.
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